Having missed out on War Horse (didn’t fancy it even after the rave reviews) we thought the subject matter of this one might interest us more and is very much up Neil Bartlett’s street.
This interview with Neil Bartlett explains his side of it:
To some extent it worked; the story across the decades was engaging. But the puppets didn’t really work for us. While we can recognise the incredible skill involved, it seemed, to us, to detract from the drama.
I must say I concur with this view. I remember the production where the Young Vic was turned into a watery stage, but I couldn’t hand on heart have told you anything about it from memory, until after I flicked through the script just now.
Perhaps Janie’s memory will do better – I’ll test that a bit later but only report back if she surprises me with profound recall.
The Young Vic published a short vid showing how they made the watery stage happen – see below.